Many building and construction sites hire hardware equipment for use when undertaking projects. The hire of hardware equipment is often preferable to purchasing equipment. This is because there is no need for the hiring party to maintain the hire equipment, and furthermore, any fluctuating demand in the need for equipment can be easily met by a hire company having significant numbers of tools.
A problem with hiring equipment is that time and effort is required in order to obtain the equipment, (i.e. collect it or have it delivered) and to return it. Because of this inconvenience, equipment is often hired for a longer period than required. For example, if the equipment is only required twice over the period of a few days, it may be more convenient for the hiring party to hire it for the span of those few days rather than to return and collect it twice. As such, the inconvenience of obtaining hired equipment can result in inefficient use of the equipment.
In addition, hired equipment needs to be serviced regularly as its duty cycle is often more demanding than that of purchased equipment. It is not easy to determine how much a certain piece of hardware equipment has been used. As such, hired equipment may experience the problem of failing on site and requiring replacement. Although hire companies will often replace such equipment free of charge, it provides further inconvenience to the hiring party. It is very difficult for the hire company to monitor their equipment whilst it is on site with the hiring party as, generally speaking, they would not have access to the equipment during this period. As such, it can be extremely difficult to determine how long the piece of equipment has been in service and/or how many times it has been used.
A further problem is that the status of a broken or damaged piece of equipment is not always communicated to the hire company. Therefore the hire company cannot react to the damage or breaking of equipment until it is returned. Inevitably the hiring party will not want to pay for the continued hire of broken equipment, and as such whilst it is in the possession of the hiring party it is not making any money for the hire company.
It is an aim of the present disclosure to overcome or at least mitigate one or more of the above problems.